“Det är enklare nu men det var aldrig svårt” : Användarnas upplevelse av direktmeddelandeapplikationer och deras användbarhet

Sammanfattning: Today, instant messaging apps are a big part of people's everyday life. A lot of people use them to communicate and over time these applications have become increasingly advanced. This study has conducted research on the user experience in instant messaging apps along Swedish users. The study is focused on what influences a user to engage or disengage with an instant message application, with regard to the user experience. This study also focused on usability and utility in the applications, both which are a part of the user experience. Through interviews with nine users empirical data were gathered and then analyzed through a direct content analysis. The result showed that the respondents used the applications for social interaction and information sharing. Social aspects had a great impact on the choice of which application to use and not to use. Another reason to not use an application was if it affected the user experience negatively, e.g. too much advertising or because of viruses being spread or spam messages affecting users. The results also showed that users were satisfied with the usability of the user interface´s utility and visual communication in the applications. However, there could have been better information and communication from the application and drastic updates of the system makes it hard to learn how to use it.